Putting a face on North Carolina poverty (audio)

As the nation honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the North Carolina NAACP along with the N.C. Justice Center and the N.C. Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity are working to bring a greater awareness to the face of poverty in our state.

“The stats are staggering over 500,000 children in poverty, some communities one out of every two persons in poverty, North Carolina 1.6 million people in poverty,” said Rev. William Barber. “We will shine the light of truth on poverty and despair in North Carolina.”

Barber says these systemic problems have existed long before the Great Recession, yet are not being addressed by politicians or many mainstream media outlets.

The Truth and Hope tour will continue this Thursday and Friday (January 19th and 20th) with town hall meetings in Washington, Roper, Elizabeth City, Winton, Scotland Neck and Rocky Mount. These are areas where North Carolinians have struggled to find work, decent housing, transportation, and enough food for their families even before the most recent economic crisis.

Rev. Barber discussed the tour over the weekend on News & Views with Chris Fitzsimon. Click below to hear a portion of his comments, or to hear the full interview, visit the radio interview section of the N.C. Policy Watch website.